������Ƶ

A phantom organization incorporated in Alaska just weeks ago appears to have orchestrated the hundreds of fraudulent parking stickers that turned up recently on Honolulu’s meters, and two people registered as its officials claim someone else is using their names.

The Honolulu Police Department is investigating the sticker scam that tricks people into submitting parking payments to an unauthorized website. 

HPD and the city’s Department of Transportation Services had removed about 200 of the stickers from Chinatown to Waikiki by Thursday afternoon, according to Ian Scheuring, a spokesperson for the mayor. Legitimate stickers remain on about 1,700 meters.

“We believe we have removed all the fake stickers,” Scheuring said.

But who perpetrated the scam remains a mystery.

Before the fraudulent payment page was shut down, a line at the bottom of the site pointed to: “Hawaii Parking Organization.”

“There is no such organization as the Hawaii Parking Organization,” DTS said in a press release.

In fact, Hawaii Parking Organization was registered recently — March 26 — in Alaska as a domestic nonprofit corporation, its .

“The purpose of Hawaii Parking Organization is to regulate the cost of parking meters in Hawaii,” its founding document states.

The organization seems to be composed of shadows.

Its agent is listed as Henry Hanngle, whose mailing address is 3300 Arctic Blvd., Suite 201, Anchorage, Alaska. Hanngle appears to have no presence online, in Alaska’s court system or in the federal courts. 

The incorporation form lists three officials: Michael Samson, Koko Hookanu and Jason Mano. Samson’s address is in Waipahu. Hookanu’s is in Ewa Beach. And Mano’s is 3040 Laiduy Road, Waialua — an address that does not appear to exist.

The Ewa Beach address is home to a number of corporations, public records show. Those include , created in February, , created in January, 2022, , started in 2020, and , registered in 2012.

Those are tied to a Koko Hookano, with an “o” instead of a “u.”

A “Michael B. Samson” is listed as another contact for Cleaning Solutions 808.

The Hawaii Parking Organization lists its physical address as 94-870 Lumiauau Street, Apt. H204, Waipahu, Hawaii, which was the same as Samson’s.

Lack Of Online Vetting

Reached by phone, Koko Hookano said it was the first she had heard of the Hawaii Parking Organization.

“Oh my god,” she said. “What do I do?” 

Hookano said someone is probably using her real address and her name, despite misspelling it.

Samson is a driver for Hookano’s company MK Transportation, a medical and private transportation service, but she didn’t know a Jason Mano, Hookano said.

“I know nothing about that,” Samson said on a phone call. The address listed for him was his old one, he said.

As for the Hawaii Parking Organization, he said, “This is the first time I heard about that.”

He said he also doesn’t know a Henry Hanngle or a Jason Mano.

“I wish I knew,” he said.

A person named Jason Mano could not be reached for comment.

A “Michael Samson” is listed as the individual completing the application, but that means little in this instance.

Anyone who wants to create a corporation in Alaska can simply go online, plug in the details, and submit it in less than an hour, according to Jerry Hannasch, who works for Alaska’s Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.

“We don’t really have the authority to say ‘no’ unless they fill out a form wrong,” said Hannasch, who is a records and licensing supervisor in the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing.

When an article of incorporation lists the name of an unwitting participant or an address that doesn’t exist, no vetting process catches it.

“There’s not anything the state can do about this,” Hannasch said. 

People have listed fake agents and unwitting officers before, he said.

“That has happened.”

The digital signature at the bottom of the articles of incorporation, however, is typed out under penalty of perjury. Anyone who files documents that they know are “false in material respects” are guilty of a Class A misdemeanor, the form says.